Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Sun, 10/05/2014 - 23:36
In VPHOT, when I load variables from the VSX, I occasionally get ones with an asterisk, with a message that it doesn't have a AUID. This is confirmed when searching VSX directly. Observations on these apparently cannot be submitted in AAVSO reports either.
Is there some reason why a variable would be in VSX but not have an AUID? Is there a process for getting an AUID assigned, so observations can be submitted?
Thanks for any leads!
-Rob
Hi Rob,
Stars that do not have any observations in the AID often do not have an AUID - there is no reason for this field. I think there is a link in VSX for such stars that says something like "request AUID for this star". Click that link, and within 24 hours or so, an AUID will be generated.
We've kept away from providing AUIDs for the hundreds of thousands of known variables, unless someone actually observes them.
Arne
One of the reasons why there are lots of run-of-the-mill variables without AUIDs is that most of them have only approximate positions because they come from all-sky surveys with low resolution.
If you just trust the identification VPhot (or other software) may make of the variable, you may be reporting the wrong star.
It has happended a lot in the past and we don't want this to happen again.
When you request an AUID using the VSX option for that (you need to log in to VSX first), we will be notified and if there is some ID problem or position improvement that we need to work with, we'll do.
It is a good time to suggest observers to take a look at their images to see if the variables are correctly identified, if the area is crowded or if the magnitudes look different than the range given in VSX. If some of that happens, double-check the ID before letting the software prepare the report.
We don't encourage submitting every variable in every field for these reasons.
Cheers,
Sebastian